New Year Music and Musicians Thread

[Wafflenose]

Morning all, and Happy New Year. I decided it was time for a new music thread too. I really enjoy hearing about what everyone (and their DCs) are up to each term, and it's great to hear from new posters too.

I have two DDs. Goo (10) - the child previously known as MiniWaffle. She's not very mini any more... she's 4'10" and catching up with me. Anyway, she plays the recorder, flute, piccolo and a bit of piano when it occurs to her. She is doing Grade 5 Theory and possibly Grade 5 Flute (if the new teacher deems her ready) this term. Next recorder exam will be Grade 7, but possibly not for about 18 months! Am hoping the new flute teacher will also do a bit of piano with her... we'll see.

And Rara (7) - previously known as BabyWaffle - plays the recorder and cello. I was thinking of putting her in for Grade 1 Theory, but she's not keen, so we'll wait. She is in the blissfully calm position of no exams this term - yay!

We all have the local music festival next month. I think Goo is doing 11 Classes, and Rara about 7 (plus possibly helping with some percussion parts). I have 27 groups, pairs and individuals entered, so am going to be busy for the next month or so.

Well its up to you. My DC refused to show their piano teacher some of the additional music they got for Christmas/birthdays on the grounds that it was fun stuff for them not for lessons and was just for their enjoyment.

Fleur, try not to worry too much, Fur Elise, in whatever version you order is a young pianist's rite of passage

I'm with raspberry, holding back on your DD's fun stuff from the teacher is a great idea....go on, rebel a little!

In the very early days, my DD would say when restricted on what she could play (for very good reasons), her response would be but it's like having library full of books, but only being allowed to read them one at a time

I could not argue with this logic...although granted, some of the books were not age/level appropriate...

I think some teachers rightly object when parents buy music that is way beyond the level their child is playing, or just not suitable at that time.
I agree though if your child likes a challenge, sometimes it's good for them to play the next grade up even if the last isn't quite consolidated.
As long as they are improving and learning the technical stuff their teachers set, there should be no problem playing extra music when they have the urge/ time.

Sometimes you can find repertoire that is ungraded and appears to have always been. These are good too as you don't get bogged down with levels and grades, enjoying the piece for what it is.

All approved by Dd's teacher, apparently it was on her list of pieces to do in the near future so she's looking forward to help DD learn it.

I think my only worry was that it may be past Dd's level of ability and would put her off piano. But now I feel better.

Oh and I do suspect DD will soon discover the Moonlight sonata and Clair de Lune (which she attempted an easier version already but then got busy with other stuff) and then we are all doomed.

green how was the piano received by your DD?

Fleur: so its the "for elise" a very popular one, just listened to it with my daughter, it must be every one's favourite, it makes me feel that all the hard work and money we are spending now on music is so worth it, its truly beautiful. I wish my daughter can play it one day.

She was excited, I wanted to make it as a surprise then we fed the builder who fitted the shutters to us and it slipped through my mouth, damn!! She sat on it and played but I havent got the feeling of her glueing to it as per my dream yet. Well, I am still putting my hope up.

We looked inside the piano and the system looks so sophisticated, music instruments are all wonderful, I feel small and modest(not too sure whats the right word for it)

ha, yes, dd2 has just gone through the stage of fur elise and moonlight sonata. But they were amongst my old music books so I am to blame.
I think it's nice to do different things, some easy ones to get "quick results" and something that is more difficult, but a nice challenge.
dd is more difficult though. Everything I suggest is boring, and she doesn't want to play same pieces as her younger sister.

Ah, Einaudi is nice to try, dd1 started on a piece which I l quite like. Never played it myself.

Einaudi is lovely to have playing in the background while you cook the dinner. DD has Le Onde.

Le Onde is pretty and very accessible (grade 4 ish, I would say; it was one of the pieces DD attempted before taking lessons).

The other modern classical piece they all learn here (tho' not in lessons) is the Tiernan theme from the film Amelie Poulain. It's pretty, but repetitive. It has a stretch in the left hand (but you can leave out the bass note) and, if played at speed, a fast section that is difficult to get completely accurate. Played slowly and without the LH stretch it is accessible from grade 3-4 (it was the first complete piece DD ever learnt on piano).

Green love the pictures of the new, shiny piano! I bet your DD is a bit overawed at the moment.
No new cello yet, but a plan. Will rent a 3/4 (hopefully stentor) from borough service for the exam and to give more time to look for nice second hand one. Teacher doesn't think it will be that long to full size - she says usually year 8 for boys but actually DS2 (y6) is already tall for his age, and no sign of slowing down, and advised against buying a brand new 3/4. I think she'll buy our 3/4 for her son when ds2 ready to move up.
She reminded me to remind DS2 about his left hand - not realising that we have this conversation every practice, and he always blames the too-small cello. He told me it's the "pinnacle of wrong" when I asked if it was really a problem!

Misti I love the theme from Amelie. Is it downloadable or do I need to buy it? I'll get DD to listen to it tonight she if she likes it.

Yes to Einaudi. DS1 had Le onde and DD is currently learning I giorni. She is around 3 - 4 standard I think.

Teacher has a policy of siblings learning different pieces wherever possible. But she also collects music cheaply whenever possible and lends it. I've given all our old syllabus stuff in return.

Loose: renting is a good idea, especially for some period of time for a non perm size. I am small so I am not too sure if she will be as small, if she is then the 3/4 is permanent then we might get a good second hand violin after the renting. If she is bigger then I wont waste any money on 3/4 size. I am not in the position to worry about it yet until in couple of years time.
Fleur: we started with a Grade 4 piece last night( Indian Pony or smth, I cant remember exactly the name), the piece is longer than grade 3 however in term of technique, it isnt a huge jump( or might be just THAT piece).

I was working from home yesterday and feeling over optimistic and I registered for her grade 5 theory exam this June and also grade 3 violin end of this term. Now I am thinking that is a crazy plan as she only started learning theory mostly by herself since Jan stopped for a month and now only started grade 3. Again both me and my husband dont know any thing about music theory so we cant help her. We asked our teacher to do another 30mins each week until the theory exam for theory only. We can always cancel it at the last minute( wasting the money) or do it as a trial one if we fail( no harm-or thats what I am trying to tell myself)

Sometimes it helps to have a deadline! The half term before DS theory exam, we treated it like a project and lots of theory was scheduled in. Would that be an option?

Regarding to violin: she might be ok as she has been progressing well, I like to see her playing violin more than piano tobe honest, I could see her much better focused.

Regarding to theory: I think I gave our teacher a heart attack yeaterday as he thought the exam will be in two years time. However I reassure him that she has good memory, even she hasnt fully grasp the concept or know it very very well, a pass is still possible and thats all we want and if we dont pass then we will resit in December. She is now very excited with theory(loving "drawing" or what we call "composing". And Raspberry, yes, I also told him there is another mid term( he mentioned this term break has nearly gone so we might have too little time left).

Good luck with all the exams Green I think it is good to have a deadline for the theory and you can see where she is at closer to the exam date.

DD will be playing a lot of non exam pieces so not touching any grade pieces for a while but she started grade 4 scales. The plan is to play Beethoven, Bach, Clementi, Bartok and see where she may be next March or June session to do grade 5 practical. Meanwhile theory on the side hopefully she can take it sometimes in 2017.

Fleur I imagine that DD being an Internet savvy teenager found it free somewhere (I don't recall buying it) - but it is no doubt still in copyright ;)

If your DD has small hands you may have to adapt the LH part. When dd started learning it, she had to miss out the bass note - she could reach it (just) but it's a very repetitive left hand part, and she didn't want to risk an injury to her (guitar) fretting hand.

Green good luck with the exams ... We are still waiting to find out what DD has to play for her audition in May/ June ... She says her teacher is being a bit vague! It will be OK though because she will be assessed at a much lower level than she currently plays at.

DD enjoyed herself the other day protesting that one of her current pieces has some (major) tenths. I can't reach those either. Went looking and there's some discussion of 'hand span' distributions and a pretty graph here:

www.smallpianokeyboards.org/how-many-pianists-have-small-hands.html

Re. injury risks DD's favourite physical activity is fairly serious rock-climbing which isn't exactly an ideal choice for a pianist. I'm not that troubled by the prospect of her falling hundreds of metres to a certain death provided she doesn't injure her fingers - realistically, injured fingers are the much greater risk and applying too much climbing stress on growing hands/fingers is also a bad idea (not that it stops idiot parents making their little climbing prodigies).

Anyway, DD is aware of but has shown no interest in Moonlight Sonata for which I'm very, very grateful because that 1st movement is something I don't need to hear again. And definitely likeable Einaudi obviously gets around, becase she's got one of the collection books.

hahaha Pique, Dd's other love is ice skating. We were having a similar joke more so before her exam, if you do fall don't put your hands down, make sure you keep your fingers up in the air.

Just got Dd's new music books as required by her DD and all I can see is black dots on the stave, lots of them. First thought was "really?! She'll be able to play these in a few months' time?!" I guess she will if her teacher thinks so but I have to say they look really hard.

*required by her teacher

That's a really interesting link, PiqueABoo. I have small hands but can just manage octaves ok.
Green I'm learning the Indian Pony Race, too, it is really great fun but the challenge will be to play it fast. I think your DD will enjoy it, especially on the new piano of loveliness! Good luck with the grade 5 theory, too. I don't think ds1 will do it until autumn as we have three exams next term and I don't think I can cope with anymore than that!

Fleur: hope minifleur will enjoy the new book, how exciting. We had a book of 50 greatest songs of all time from Yamaha as a complimenf for purchasing the piano and in the book Fur Elise was one of them. I told my daughter there is a girl at grade 3 piano is going to learn this song, she was really impressed.

Pique, Fleur: hahaha, I will tell her the same. In fact she has a small soft lump on her middle finger in her right hand due to holding the bow and she was told that finger is the most beautiful because it shows her violin work and she should be incredibly proud of it(not too sure if she buys it yet)

Loose: thats it, Indian Pony race, she is still "sight reading" it now so we will come to the "fast phase" very much later especially with theory and violin exam. I am hoping she doesnt have much home work now, her progress at school is ok then she could focus on theory this term. I havent planned for her piano exam yet even this year as I am really hoping to have theory done out of the way first. If she is bored of the pieces then she can do some other songs in between.

Loose - I thought you might be headed for full size soon; DD loves her's as its much louder of course 😀 Have you seen the London Cello Day details for next weekend - always a great day and I love seeing what seems love hundreds of cellos arriving. Def worth thinking about.

Lots of fun new music for lots of your DCs!

I am starting to think that Goo has set the world record for slowness of Theory - over 2.5 years from zero to Grade 5. But (to be fair) we only did it in the summer holidays at first - Grade 1 book and test papers the summer she was 7, Grade 2 book and papers the summer she was 8, Grade 3 started the following Christmas IIRC, finished at Easter, practice papers last April/ May and exam in June, aged 9. Grade 4 book and papers took us from July to September, Grade 5 book took from Sept - Nov/Dec and then she had a few more months of practice papers and learning words. We are both VERY glad it's over, although I need to do it all again with her sister now.

Waffle if it makes you feel better DD is still going through grade 1 book veeeerrrryyyy slooooowwwww!

She always did theory since she started piano at 6 but took it slow and did activity books (stickers, colouring in quavers and so on). Only now she's doing some "proper" theory and I hope it will speed up to ensure she can progress past grade 5 but there is no rush. The fastest she'll do grade 5 practical could be next March, therefore she'd have another year after that to do grade 5 theory. So no rush here.

How many theory exam sessions are there in a year? 3 sessions, same as practical?